Bowery Ballroom Backers Opening New Music Club on 11th Avenue

A new music venue will open in October at the former site of an 11th Avenue nightclub, yet one more sign that the era of mega-clubs is coming to an end.

Bowery Presents, the group behind downtown music venues Bowery Ballroom and Mercury Lounge, will open Terminal 5, a 3,000-person concert hall, in the space formerly occupied by the frequently-troubled Exit nightclub at 610 West 56th Street. The group signed a 25-year lease and paid around $35 a square foot for the 40,000-square-foot space, according to a source with knowledge of the deal.

Bowery Presents started out small, opening Mercury Lounge on Houston Street in 1994. The 250-person capacity venue was followed by the Bowery Ballroom in 1998. Both venues developed reputations over the years as places where local acts like The Strokes and Interpol would play unannounced shows before heading out on tour.

Exit developed quite a different reputation. Famous in its early years for bringing some of the world’s biggest DJs to New York, the David Marvisi-owned club became known for itsprevalent drug activity and violent environment in the years before it closed last October.